Photo : Storms Media Group
Bianca Andreescu will be wanting to stay away from Alize Cornet in all future grass-court events after a second loss to the Frenchwoman in the last three weeks.
This time, the defeat came on tennis’ biggest stage, as Andreescu was blown away by Cornet in the first round of Wimbledon 6-2, 6-1 on Wednesday.
The pair met earlier in June in Berlin, with Cornet eking out the win in two tight sets.
That was not the case in London, as the Frenchwoman was in the ascendency from start to finish, grabbing an early break and never looking back, at one point winning nine consecutive games on her way to victory.
Andreescu, making her second appearance at the All-England Club, never looked comfortable, slipping all over the grass and falling on multiple occasions.
Her game did not agree with the surface either, as she committed 34 unforced errors and failed to convert six break points. Cornet only had seven unforced errors.
The writing was on the wall in the early stages, as Andreescu was having difficultly closing out service games, letting Cornet back to deuce from 40-15 up twice in her first three games.
The second time, a string of unforced errors gave Cornet break points and the Canadian gave the game away with a double fault.
Andreescu continued to struggle to find the court, again missing multiple game points in her next service game before surrendering another break with more unforced errors.
As Cornet served for the set at 5-2, Andreescu finally put together a run of good shots to earn a double break point, but let the Frenchwoman off the hook with two more errors. Cornet ultimately held to take the opening set.
The second set picked up where the first left off, with Cornet grabbing a third consecutive break of serve in the opening game when Andreescu fired a backhand into the net to take an early lead.
Another failure to break serve by Andreescu, with another backhand into the net on break point, allowed Cornet to hold for 2-0, her seventh consecutive game won.
Cornet was not letting up, breaking to love in the next game to take a double break lead.
Down 0-4, Andreescu managed to hold serve, finally ending Cornet’s run at nine consecutive games, but still found herself down two breaks.
The Canadian had her best chance of the match to break in the next game, going up love-40, only to lose five straight points as Cornet held for 5-1.
The Frenchwoman wrapped up the match with one more break of serve, ending the match in dramatic fashion by chasing down a drop shot and flicking a lob winner over Andreescu’s head.
Leylah Fernandez will be making her Wimbledon debut later on Wednesday.
Shapovalov walks into round three
On the men’s side, Denis Shapovalov was supposed to contest his second round match, but advanced without hitting a ball after his opponent, Pablo Andujar, withdrew with a rib injury.
The walkover is a big break for Shapovalov, who had to play a five-setter on Tuesday in the opening round.
He is now into the third round at Wimbledon for the first time in his career as a pro. He awaits the winner between Oscar Otte and two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray in the third round.
